The Main Art Theater in Royal Oak: A Heaven for Indie Film Goers

I don't know about you, but I always find myself frustrated when I see this amazing trailer for a movie only to find out it is in selected theaters. Yes, sometimes the successful indie films do make the big screens across the nation eventually, but this is not always the case.  Luckily for me, I have found my happy place.  I call it The Main Art Theater and it resides in a lovely town called Royal Oak, Michigan.

The Main Art Theater is rustic and will make you nostalgic for movies back in the day.  It's prices are extremely reasonable and the concessions have organic options!  I also appreciate the free refills on popcorn and soda.


More importantly, this amazing theater plays indie films every week!!  I saw Begin Again, Third Person, and will soon be seeing Boyhood.  Two of which are not playing in major theaters.  So my friends......if you are seeking for an indie film watching experience, seek no further!

Emagine: A Movie Theater Review

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently moved from Okemos to Novi, Michigan.  As you can probably guess, my first concern was what movie theaters would I have access to?  I knew there was an Emagine near by but was skeptical as it seemed to me, to be a costly theater without much reason.  I am here to tell you, I was very mistaken.

As I walked in, I was pleasantly surprised to see the prices for tickets!  If you have been to NCG in Lansing or a similar theater, you pay the same amount or close at Emagine.  My ticket was 8 dollars (yeah...I still use my college id....shhhhh).  The next pleasantry to discover was in the popcorn!  As you know, I pretty much eat enough for a small village of movie theater popcorn which contains oil that wouldn't be healthy for an automobile let alone human.  However, they use a healthier olive oil on their popcorn if you so choose.  This healthy alternative truly won me over. The  when entering the theater, I was quite content with the seats.  They were comfy, wide, and all had the option of moving the arm rest for those that wish to snuggle their movie date.  That along with an amazing screen and I was happy to be very wrong about such a great place for film viewing.

There are several Emagine Theaters so I encourage you to find one in your area if you are lucky to have one.  Don't judge it like I did and see for yourself!

www.emagine-entertainment.com/

Summer Movie Spotlight

Well hello there!  No, I have not died.  I know it's been forever and a day but as you know, life has it's way of making us too busy for our own good.  This is not a blog about my personal life but I did move to another city, get a promotion, and have been traveling for various training.  So I do apologize for my absence but assure you friends, I have still gone to the movies every week.  Please don't ask me how much I have been reading (Insurgent is amazing by the way....and yeah I am still on chapter 3).  Instead of bombarding you with new posts, I decided to consolidate my July movie experiences into one post.  So, without further ado, I give you the Summer Movie Spotlight by yours truly.

Begin Again

This movie had some awesome names such as Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, and Adam Levine.  It portrays the beauty and art if music from various perspectives.  Our leading lady, Gretta, is discovering herself after a breakup from her boyfriend who recently was signed to a major label.  Gretta has to find out who she is without him and follow her own path through her love of music.  With the help of an eccentric producer, Gretta remembers why all she has ever wanted to do was write music.

Why You Should See It:  I mean really, it has Mark Ruffalo....need I say more?  No but seriously, this movie is beautiful.  Whether you enjoy romantic comedies with a smart edge or are simply  a lover of music, you will not regret seeing this wonderful tale.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
After seeing the first one, I was so excited to find out they were filming another!  Our buddy Caesar has successfully lead his fellow ape friends to a rather civilized and successful existence away from humans. The fact that an outbreak occurs and the human population has dwindled to nothing, seems to have helped  a great deal, or so they think.  A group of humans immune to the virus has created a colony and are in need of more power.  They make their way to Caesar territory and so ensues a conflict of power, trust, and respect. This conflict isn't just between man and ape, as Caesar soon finds out he cannot trust his own kind.

Why You Should See It:  Besides the fact that this film is visually dynamic with its amazing graphics, the story is truly touching.  You know the injustices the apes faced when in the labs so many years before and yet you know the humans, for the most part, mean no harm.  Although long in parts, I felt myself engaged and anticipating what would happen next.  It was gripping, entertaining, and had heart.

Third Person
This was an indie flick I saw at an awesome theater I found in Royal Oak, Michigan (which will be featured in an upcoming post).  It was so deep and complex that I don't want to give too much away.  Liam Neeson stars as a writer who you find out is writing a twisted novel.  As what so easily happens with writers, he tends to use characters from his own life  and as a result real life scenarios he has experienced or witnessed.  Just when you think you have it all figured out, your mind if blown.

Why You Should See It:  It is smart and I mean smart.  The characters with their internal conflicts keep you watching as you try to put all the pieces together.

Sex Tape
Annie and Jay are trying to spice up their marriage and make a rather creative sex tape.  What they soon realize is that instead of deleting it like most intelligent people would, it is synced to their iCloud which so happens to be synced to all of their apple products. Yes, they could just go to each device and delete them all, but Jay likes getting new iPads and has given write a few out to friends and family. Now you see the problem.

Why You Should Rent This:  I would expect this movie from Cameron Diaz, but Jason Segel....really?  Be better.  Be better than this.  Besides maybe 2 or 3 funny parts (like Cameron doing a flip literally onto her husband), the story line is awful!  It's lacking the humor you hope to see when watching the trailer and even though you keep watching in hopes of it changing, it just doesn't.  Ever.

Lucy
Lucy is kidnapped and injected with a drug that is meant to stay in her system as a warehouse, but ends up mixing with her insides and giving her more access to her brain than any species has been able to do.  Lucy's brain capacity increases as time passes and gives her amazing abilities.  Her sole mission is to seek revenge on the evilness that did this to her, but also to help humankind with the evolution of information she has retained.  With the help of one scientist (Morgan Freeman), she is able to do both.

Why You Should See It:  How are you not intrigued by a film about the power of the human brain which is such a mystery.  The typical human doesn't even use 1/4 of the brain capacity and here we have a girl reaching for 100% of hers.  It makes you wonder if it would be helpful or a hindrance to have such abilities.  You'll just have to see what she goes through to find out.

Wild: She Got Lost on the Pacific Coast Trail and Found Herself Again

This book couldn't have entered my life at a more appropriate time.  No, I did not go backpacking across the Pacific Coast Trail, but have been feeling out of my element and a lot of life changes have transpired (ie. moving to a different city and leaving a city I have known as home my entire 29 years).  So here I was on my one and only week off this summer, laying in the sun along the beautiful west Michigan coastline and I was enthralled.

Cheryl had quite the extraordinary childhood.  Her father was a deadbeat alcoholic who was abusive to her mother and her siblings. Luckily he did them all a favor and abandoned  them, which did leave some internal wounds she would need to sort out in her adulthood.  This left her loving mother to raise Cheryl, her brother, and sister.  The 4 of them lived in the country and grew their food, sewed their clothes, and enjoyed the simple life indeed.  Later her mother met Eddie and he became the father to take them fishing and other things fathers typically do.  It was a charmed life.

Cheryl got older and went to college which encouraged her mother to do the same.  The two ended up going to the same college which sadly got cut short.  Cheryl's mother was diagnosed with Cancer and when she died, this took a part of Cheryl away that she couldn't get back no matter how hard she tried, and believe me she tried everything.

Following the death of her mother, her little family fell apart and she couldn't keep them together.  Add to that the fact that she no longer felt the same about her husband, and Cheryl slowly fell into a horribly dark path.  She threw herself into bed after bed with different men and went as far as heroin to get herself to feel anything.  She hit rock bottom and then got inspired to hike the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail) by herself to find who she was again.  This caused quite a bit of backlash from friends and her ex husband as going backpacking was one thing, but backpacking thousands of miles as a female is quite another situation altogether.

Cheryl did it anyway though and learned so much about life and who she was capable of being. After all, there were so many obstacles to go through such as wild animals, extreme weather from all sides of the spectrum, sketchy individuals, and being so very alone surrounded by mountains and sky.

This book captured her journey in a way that had you walking alongside her as she evolved.  It would be a wonderful read for anyone needing to be inspired to expand your horizons and really live your life.  We all get lost sometimes, but it is up to us on how we find ourselves again.

Theater Review: Harbor Cinemas 8 Carmike Theaters

When you are in vacation and looking for a theater, it can be tricky.  Most up north towns don't have them which cause tourists to travel to the nearest theater location.  For me this week it was a road trip to Ludington whose only theater is the Harbor Cinema 8 owned by Carmike Cinemas.  I have been here before and was reminded today of why having competition is much better for the consumer.   I basically spent the same amount of money if I was going out to dinner and purchasing my boyfriend's ticket.

As you know,  I enjoy my fair share of popcorn.  So when ordering I was disappointed to see that the only free refills were for the Medium Couple's Special (19 dollars) which contained one large medium popcorn with free refills and 2 medium drinks, with no refills.   The other option was 21 dollars and involved 1 large popcorn (Ginormous!!!) with free refills and 2 large drinks which also includes free refills.  I know what you are thinking, maybe just get the smaller sizes and pay for refills? Nope......you are not allowed refills unless you pay for the entire thing.  So we settled for the large, because there is no way I am not getting refills on drinks after consuming that much popcorn.  

Now had this been Studio C, NCG,  or any number of any other theaters,  I could have gotten any size popcorn, pop, refills to my liking and either gotten them for free or paid a small fee.  My usual cost for movie attendance is 17 dollars which includes all the popcorn and pop I can consume and my ticket. I am wiling to budge this to 20, maybe 22.  My cost was 30 bucks!  Which makes sense, it is the only theater within 40 miles of Pentwater (to my knowledge).  Don't even get me started on the 25 minute trailor session! So, my advice is this, bring lots of cash or someone should open another theater so that friendly competition can help us movie goers out.

Tammy: It was either this or Transformers........

Part of being a movie buff for me means that even while on vacation, I still need to find a theater and see a flick.  It was a rainy day in Pentwater, MI,  so the boy and I made a trip to Ludington to see Tammy.  It is 4th of July weekend which usually implies some major releases.   For us it was Tammy or Transformers.  Now I know Transformers was the bigger hit, but I just can't sit through over 2 hours of it.  Not my cup of tea, and for those of you who I enjoy it, that is awesome.  But in all honesty,  I am kind of wishing I had gone with option b.

Tammy (played by the wonderfully hilarious Melissa McCarthy) is extremely down on her luck.  She hits a deer, destroys her car, gets fired from her job, and finds out her hubby is cheating on her with the neighbor..........all in one morning!   She needs out of this life and it appears the only one with the money and transportation is her alcoholic grandmother (Love Susan Sarandon!).  The two make a road trip to Niagara Falls and make some discoveries along the way.  Grandma learns to stop drinking and Tammy finds true love after all.  The end.

Not my usual blog?  Yeah, well.......I honestly don't know what to say.   First of all, Melissa and Susan, you are better than this!  Each of you should have run after reading the story line.   Tammy was pretty much Melissa doing some outlandish things over and over again.  It had a few funny parts but that was literally it.  The character development was lacking and had very generic plot development.  I'd say this and All About Steve (Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper) are both in the same category.   So my friends,  save your money!

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Louis Zamperini was a trouble maker growing up,  luckily for him,  he had another skill.  Running.  Louis was fast and soon learned that he could outrun pretty much everyone he encountered.  This later lead him to his destiny of running in the Olympics.   Unfortunately,  his destiny had other things in mind as well.  You see this was during World War 2 which meant a draft was inevitable and Louis would join others in our battle with Japan.  What he didn't know and couldn't possibly imagine was just how much he would endure and what costs it would have on the rest of his life.

Louis' horrific tale begins when his B 24 takes off heading for Japan over the Pacific Ocean.  Not too soon after is it knocked down by a fighter plane leaving Louis and his team fighting for their lives in shark infested waters.  I mean literally shark, infested waters.  These guys are hungry and pretty much stalk these men for weeks.  Time continues to pass and it seems as if there is no way for anyone flying over to see them on their flimsy raft.  The only thing keeping them going is their imagination and heart.   Finally rescue is insight, but unfortunately it isn't the rescue they are hoping for.   They do escape the isolation of being stranded in fierce, oceanic waters, but are now POW for the Japanese.

There are a litany of events that occur at which I will not disclose as I want you to read and get a firsthand experience of what Louis went through.   He was beaten,  starved, and downgraded to nothing and just when he thought he might get some relief at a different POW camp, he meets his match.   They called him The Bird.  The Bird was a self absorbed lunatic who gained pleasure in the destruction of others and for whatever reason, he chose Louis as his prime target.  Maybe it was the fact that Louis refused to let him take him down.  Don't get me wrong, he did beat him to a bloody pulp,  help him back to his feet and do it all over again,  but Louis did get up every time.  Which would cause him to experience defeat in ways no human being should ever have to go through.

Louis did eventually get out.  WW 2 ended and the United States was able to retrieve Louis and others in similar situations.  Louis found love and married later, but had no idea the mental issues he was about to endure.  You see The Bird may have been out of sight, but he was still very real to Louis.  Louis saw him in his dreams as well as his drunken stupor during the day.   Louis was loosing control and falling fast.  Lucky for him, he made a promise to God back on the raft so many years before that he would serve God if he helped him survive.   It was this promise that came back to him when he was at the lowest point of his life and it did indeed save him.

There is so much to this book that I left out because I didn't want to takea away the realness of it all.  At first the language and vocabulary gave me a hard time really getting into it, but once I understood it, nothing could stop me from reading it.  Louis Zamperini experienced such awfulness and yet he still came out on top.  I also must say the author did a fantastic job of including details from this time that give the reader a real image of what such events must have been like.  One example is the details included when the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs, no history book can create for me the picture in my mind as I read word for word,  Louis' account.  For more details and  a truly deep, true story regarding survival of the mind, body, and sprit,  I encourage you to read this book.